[T]he new research, which tested the effects of a bacterial enzyme keratinase on brain tissues from cows with BSE and sheep with scrapie, showed that, when the tissue was pretreated and in the presence of a detergent, the enzyme fully degraded the prion, rendering it undetectable.

Neat stuff. Even if this can't lead to a "cure" so to speak, the real wealth may be in developing a process by which to de-prion livestock feed and feed production facilities. Jake, as our resident Bio-guy, do you have any interesting comments on this?

As a side note, I think the funniest thing about this whole "outbreak" (insert dramatic organ chord) is the American public's complete apathy to the story despite the media's best scare tactics. My personal theory is that the ascendance of the Atkins diet has muted any and all opposition to meat eating.

James- I 've got to believe it's also got something to do with the fact that they've still only found ONE COW! I don't know how many steaks, burgers, and tacos come from one cow, but with 285mm people in the United States, I think people realize that their chances of eating meat from that particular cow were never really high.